"Atheism is not merely the denial of a dogma. It is the reversal of a subconscious assumption in the soul..." - Chesterton
"We do not really face two rival versions of Christianity. We face Christianity on the one hand and, on the other hand, some other religion that selectively uses Christian words, but is not Christianity." - J. Gresham Machen

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What I believe:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.
I believe he was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
I believe he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
I believe he descended to the grave and on the third day he rose again.
I believe he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
I believe he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
I believe we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. I believe the Bible is the word of God, without error or contradiction.
I believe God is sovereign over all the universe; omnipotent and omniscient in all things. I believe that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. I believe that pretty much covers it.

Monday, 24 March 2008

What Nonsense!

(I changed the title from my original post.)Here is more nonsense from John Shelby Spong from On Faith

My newest book, Jesus for the Non-Religious, just released in paperback, is written for those people who are committed to the Jesus experience, but because they are citizens of the 21st Century cannot twist their minds into First Century pretzels in order to say “I believe” to the traditional explanations offered by the biblical writers. Rather I seek the reality of the Jesus experience that made these explanations seem appropriate.

He then goes on to list belief in the Virgin birth, the feeding of the five thousand, the physical resurrection of Jesus, the ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as examples of "first century" thinking.

This is an example of what I have called chronological, or cultural arrogance. It displays the paternalistic attitude that people of other times or other cultures were ignorant boobs and we 'enlightened' twenty-first century white people know so much better now. Well, for Mr Spong's information, people in the first century didn't believe that women could have children without having had sexual relations with a man either. And they wouldn't believe that a few loaves and fish could feed a multitude, or that a dead man could be raised to life after three days in a tomb. But God can do things that men think impossible, and he doesn't need Mr Spong's belief or permission to have done them.

The first century had their own Spongs too. They were the chief priests and Pharisees. Skeptics who didn't believe in miracles then wouldn't believe in them now. And people who don't believe in them now wouldn't have believed in them then either.

2 comments:

I apologize for my language here, but I racked my brain and could find no more suitable synonym to describe Spong's views adequately. The only other one that comes close and is perhaps even more acccurate is represented by the second and the nineteenth letters of the alphabet, but this is, after all, a Christian blog, and sometimes even the most apt term just cannot be used, lest one cause one's brother to stumble.